The Riddle Game
by sharks.with.lasers
Summary: While hunting in the woods to blow off some steam, Annabeth encounters a sphinx. Badly wounded and unable to escape, she makes a desperate bid for survival. Though the sphinx has never been beaten, Annabeth has no choice other than to rely upon the ancient laws; hopefully, her desperate gamble will pay off, and she'll escape with her life.


As she ran away from a very irate sphinx, Annabeth Chase concluded that perhaps this was not a plan worthy of Athena. At the time, monster hunting in the forest seemed like an excellent idea. It would get her away from the tenseness between the demigods who had fought for Olympus and those who had tried to raise Kronos. _What harm could come of it_, she had argued to herself. There wasn't anything particularly large or nasty in the woods; if there had been, it would've come looking for campers.

Well, not quite. The sphinx was either too lazy to get to camp, too lost to locate it, or perfectly content to wait for stupid, solitary demigods to wander right into her hands- or paws, rather.

"_Vlacas,_" Annabeth cursed herself. She was completely lost, and running out of time.

All she wanted to do was pass the time until the Hunters arrived; they were going to give a report on whether or not any of the ancient monsters were stirring, after the fall of the Titans.

As the thudding of the sphinx's footsteps drew closer, she wished she wasn't wearing armor. Of course, it had protected her many times in the past, but now only weighed her down as she tried to make her escape, disarmed and wounded. The armor, tough as it was, wouldn't hold up against a sphinx's claws and teeth, and as a result would make her death slower. Her sandals seemed too big for her feet; they slid as she ran, though she wasn't sure where she was going.

And then, it didn't matter where she was trying to get to, because the sphinx's front paws made contact with her back, tearing gashes in her armor. She managed to roll over, and stared into the face of death. If she'd been human, she might've been pretty; instead, she was a monster and therefore had a cruel look about her. Annabeth couldn't quite place the expression, but the sphinx looked smug, almost like, _Why even bother trying to run away? I'll just catch you again._

She opened her mouth, revealing several rows of sharp, yellowed canine teeth that looked as though they'd never been brushed, with bits of meat decaying in between. It was the foulest thing Annabeth had ever smelled, and probably the last thing she would ever see.

If she was recalling the story right, however, (and she rarely recalled the stories incorrectly) there was a way she could save herself.

Before the sphinx could eat her, Annabeth quickly said, "What demands an answer but never asks a question?"

The sphinx looked surprised for a moment, as if she hadn't thought about this turn of events. "It has been thousands of years since anyone has challenged me to the riddle game. Do you hope the ancient laws will protect you?" She cocked her head to the side, studying the bleeding demigod, "Perhaps they will. For now."

"If I win, I get to go free. If you win, you get to eat me, unless I can escape," Annabeth said.

"Those don't exactly sound like fair terms," the sphinx said, almost amused. "Either way, you have the option of living."

A thoughtful look crossed the monster's face. "Still, you are bleeding pretty heavily. You couldn't escape me. And I do enjoy a good chase every now and again."

Though she had used the word "you" while talking, the sphinx seemed to be talking more to herself. She hadn't looked at Annabeth, instead staring off into the woods to her right.

Eventually, the sphinx nodded in agreement, "I accept your terms, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

It worried Annabeth that the sphinx knew her name; if she could pluck things out of her head, she could read the answers to the riddles in Annabeth's mind.

"No," the sphinx said, though Annabeth hadn't voiced her concerns. "The ancient laws dictate very strict guidelines for the riddle game. I could not steal the answers from your mind if I wanted to, demigod."

Annabeth didn't respond to this. She didn't like the thought of the sphinx poking around in her head, but she couldn't exactly do anything to get the large monster to stop, especially considering that she was alone in the middle of the woods, totally lost, and unarmed. She didn't even have her Yankees baseball cap that made her invisible; she had left that on her nightstand. _Vlacas._ Though she wasn't even sure that it would work; the sphinx might be able to sniff her out. Some monsters could do that, especially if they already knew where a demigod was.

Annabeth took a deep breath, said a silent prayer to her mother (both for protection and for hoping she was right) and repeated herself, "What demands an answer but never asks a question?"

The sphinx considered for a moment, "Telephone."

When Annabeth nodded, the sphinx very gently removed her paws from Annabeth's shoulders, who winced as her claws were also removed. As the demigod bled, the sphinx backed up to sit several feet away.

Annabeth didn't even consider the notion of running. She was badly wounded and weighed down by heavy armor. The sphinx was a four-legged monster that had none of these issues.

Now that the sphinx had answered the riddle, however, the ancient laws very firmly applied, and the sphinx could do Annabeth no harm unless the demigod lost.

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the evening?" The sphinx asked.

Annabeth had been hoping for this riddle. She sat up slowly, to ensure that she wouldn't pass out. Even when with monsters who, by ancient laws, could not consume a demigod, it was best to have one's wits about oneself.

She answered the well-known riddle, "Man, who crawls on his hands and feet at the beginning of his life, walks on two legs as a man, and uses a cane as an elderly man, at the end of his life."

The sphinx smiled coldly, "That's the famous riddle, of course. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security, Annabeth Chase. I'm the Riddle Master, and nobody has ever beaten me."


End file.
